My Little Brother
by Durbe the Barian
Summary: He pushed him away out of fear. Now it might be too late to hold him again. Told in Kankuro's POV. Takes place after the Chunin Exam Arc.


**My Little Brother**

**Angst**

**Kankuro/Gaara**

**He pushed him away out of fear. Now it might be too late to hold him again. Told in Kankuro's POV. Takes place after the whole Chunin Exam Arc.**

**(I don't own Naruto Shippuden. If I did, Neji wouldn't have died. Either that, or he would be revived by Obito. VERY SOON.)**

* * *

My Little Brother

* * *

I was only two years old when he was born. But I remember everything from that day. My little brother was crying in his crib. He was so tiny, it would be hard to notice him if you weren't on the lookout for him. His skin was paler than what could be called normal in Sunagakure. His hair was dark auburn and his little hands were constantly reaching out to us.

My little brother. Gaara.

I know that he couldn't see me. He was hardly a few hours old. But still, I couldn't help but fell like he was reaching out to me. Like he was begging me for help. I'll have to admit, it worked. I reached into the crib, readying a finger for him to grip, but then my father pulled me away from him.

"Leave him be," he said.

Then he forced me out of the room.

I wasn't able to see my new little brother for several months after that. And Father never explained why.

* * *

The first time I noticed the 'uniqueness' that my little brother possessed was when my father first trusted me and Temari with him. We were both only 4 and 5 years old, and Gaara was only 2. But Temari and I were also studying ninja techniques. Maybe that was the reason Father left him with us for an hour. If only we knew what we were dealing with.

We really tried to be big siblings. We kept him awake, like Father had told us to. We fed him when he was hungry. We played with him so he wouldn't get lonely. But the one time we turn our heads, Gaara crawled towards the end of the bed he'd been sitting on and started to fall off. We tried to catch him, but something protected him before we could so much as touch him.

Sand.

A cloud of sand that appeared out of nowhere.

My breath was caught in my throat when I first saw that. And I could tell that Temari was close to fainting herself. Then Gaara crawled over to me and grabbed hold of my pant leg. Then he just looked at me with those big, innocent eyes of his.

I decided to try to forget what I saw that day. I didn't even bring it up to Father when he returned. But that didn't work. It happened again and again. Whenever Gaara got himself into some kind of trouble, that sand would always appear and protect him. And every time, I always caught a whiff of blood.

That always gave me the shivers.

So I began avoiding him when he was around 5 years old. He'd grabbed hold of my shirt and look me in the eye, always begging me to stay with him for a while. But I'd always just shake him off and leave him alone. Then I'd make some excuse that I had ninjustu to study and that I couldn't waste my time with him.

I must have been a great actor, because nobody noticed how much it hurt me to say those things. Least of all Gaara.

* * *

I was about 8 years old when I finally learned the truth about Gaara.

He was possessed by the Shukaku. A monster that could destroy the village if Gaara ever so much as fell asleep.

I only learned about that when I was heard Gaara scream.

I had been avoiding him for a while. I'll admit to that. But when I heard him scream, my instincts as his brother came before my self-promise to avoid him. I raced up the stairs to the roof and pushed the door open.

That's when I first saw it.

The Shukaku.

It looked at me only once, but that was enough to scar me for life.

Then it let out a piercing cry. My heart began to beat wildly when I heard it, because I recognized it. That wasn't just any cry.

It was Gaara's.

I had grown up hearing that cry. The very same cry he'd make whenever he was alone and nobody was there to help him.

The cry he'd make when I never walked up to him. When I left him there to wallow in his problems.

I froze when it looked at me. When **he** looked at me. Tears were streaming down his face, and listening closer, I found that his breathing was coming out in short rasps. Like Gaara had just gotten over another crying episode. Then it held its hand out to me.

Just like Gaara had done when he was first born.

But that time, I didn't offer any hand. I backed away. Then I ran away.

I could only hear Shukaku's strangled cries as my father forced it to stand down.

* * *

Gaara never forgave me after that day. And looking back, I never forgave myself either. I was eight years old and the beast I had seen was enough to scare even the strongest Jonin in our village, but still, the fact remained that I had hurt Gaara in a way I couldn't mend.

I had found Gaara in the middle of the road that night, unconscious, the character for 'Love' carved into his forehead. His eyes were red and puffy. He'd been crying for some time before I found him. I fell to my knees and took my brother's limp form in. Then I reached out to him, only to be pushed away by a cloud of brown sand.

That was when he woke up with a feral look in his eye. The very same expression that Shukaku was wearing before he looked at me. I pulled myself away again, and the cloud of sand receded. Then Gaara tried to sit himself up. "H-Hey, Gaara," I exclaimed. "Y-You shouldn't sit up yet."

Then he looked at me again. And I froze.

My little brother had been replaced with a cold beast. His eyes were no longer the same big and innocent ones I'd grown up seeing. They were dark and cold.

Just like the Shukaku.

I remained frozen as he forced himself to stand up. Then I only watched as he walked away with a slight limp. The kind of limp you would have after something so terrible, you'd be lucky to recover from it completely.

* * *

It only got worse after that. Either I avoided him or he avoided me. We were rarely in the same room at the same time, and when we were, it was because of a job we had to handle. I had become slightly more carefree, ignoring him whenever I was allowed the chance, while he became a cold, emotionless weapon.

How I hated hearing him be called that. Even our sensei called him that, though I could tell that he hated it too. Work with Gaara long enough, and you'll eventually see the kid.

I saw him. But he was locked too far in for me to reach him again.

Until the Chunin Exams.

During our war against Konohagakure.

I had heard his cry again. Gaara was in pain and I was too frozen to reach out to him. Then I saw that arm again. The arm that made me run away.

The sand around him broke away, and I saw an injured boy with auburn hair.

Gaara.

My little brother.

When the operation finally began, I didn't hesitate to go after my little brother. He didn't reach out to me, but I didn't reach out to him either. At least not yet.

Temari, despite her hatred for war, was actually the only one freaking out about the mission. (That actually surprised me a little bit.) I was too worried about Gaara to even think about the mission. When his head began to ache and he was bordering on unconsciousness, I could hardly think straight. "What's wrong?" was the only thing I could ask him. I knew he wouldn't give me an answer, but I asked anyway.

Then he fell unconscious, and instantly, I saw my little brother again. The same little brother I ignored.

Not anymore, I thought to myself. "_I'm not leaving him like this again._"

I grabbed hold of him and carried him away from the arena, as far away from that Uchiha kid as I could.

I wasn't going to leave him alone again.

Not again.

* * *

(Present time.)

My eyes are focused on my little brother. Gaara is still unconscious and has been for a few days now. That Naruto kid must have hit him harder than he thought.

I stand up and put my hands in my pockets. My eyes are still looking down at my little bro.

Gaara.

If I apologized for the way I acted around you when we were kids, would you forgive me? Would you give me a second chance to be your big brother? Or would you simply look at me the way you did when we were little and push me away with your sand?

I wish I knew the answer. But I guess that's one of the few questions I'll never get answered.

I smile sadly as I turn to walk away.

"Kankuro…."

My body froze up on me. It took me a solid minute to turn around and face the one who called me.

Gaara.

He's awake and looking at me. His expression is different. It's not that scowl that he gave to everybody around him. He looks…mellow. I can't even sense his bloodlust anymore.

Clearly, my surprise registers on my face as Gaara asks me, "What's the matter?"

I freeze for a moment longer, but then I gulp and walk back over to him. "Oh, nothing's wrong," I tell him. "So how are you feeling?"

He doesn't have the strength to sit up. I can tell. But still, I'm surprised when he tries to lift himself up and get off of his bed. Instantly, I react again and reach over to him. "Don't move, Gaara," I tell him. "You're still pretty tired."

"Why are you…concerned about me?" Gaara asks me.

I'm frozen again. What could I say to that? He sounded almost…peaceful. He wasn't using that same tone of voice he uses when he goes up against his chosen prey.

"Kankuro?"

I snap out of it. Gaara just said my name. And without any malice or anything like that. Surprise, if anything, makes me look down at him. Gaara's face; it's just like it was when he was a little kid. Before Yashamaru died. Before I saw Shukaku for the first time in my life.

Before I left him alone to fend for himself.

"Gaara," I say, softer than I ever have in my life.

I notice Gaara pulling his hand out from under his blanket.

Then he holds it out to me, that same soft expression on his face.

He's reaching out to me again, just like he did when we were little.

I freeze again. I don't know what to do. Gaara's still weak. I know that. But it's only when his hand begins to fall that I react.

I take hold of his hand. There was nobody to pull me away from him, and Shukaku wasn't going to scare me away.

Not again.

He's my little brother. Nothing can change that.

And I'm not letting him go.

Never again.

* * *

**D.T.B: Yay! My first Naruto Oneshot/Fanfiction in General. And it just HAD to be written in Kankuro's POV. And Gaara's my fave in Naruto. Weird. ^-^' Maybe I just love their brotherly bond or something. Ah, who cares?**

**Anyway, please leave a review. I'm tempted to write more for my little Jinchuriki of the sand. (And just about ALL the Jinchuriki, for that matter.)**


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